Volunteers across North America come together for week to help Muskegon community

MUSKEGON, MI — High schoolers from across North America found their way to Muskegon this week to help those less fortunate.

As part of a week-long community service project, known to many as SERVE, these volunteers travel to different areas across North America to help out communities they would normally be unfamiliar with.

Brian Kingshott, who serves as the host team coordinator for SERVE in Muskegon, is the youth director at Calvin Christian Reformed Church on Norton Avenue.

This week, he has encompassed a new role in coordinating with these young volunteers who worked on several different service projects within the Muskegon community. The variety of activities took place at several locations, and included painting, landscaping and general maintenance for buildings and playgrounds.

On Wednesday, July 16, Kingshott was out at Muskegon Christian Elementary School with a few other volunteers.

"Today they painted a fence, and did a bunch of landscaping on the playground toward the back of the school," Kingshott said. "There was some cleaning maintenance inside the school itself, spreading of bark around the playground and they pulled some carpet out of a room or two."

This is the seventh year that Muskegon has seen the efforts from SERVE, as in the past volunteers have come from places like Canada, Ontario, South Dakota, Texas and Massachusetts.

"There are different SERVE sites all over North America," Kingshott said. "Kids basically come, stay for a week, and do all kinds of different service projects in the communities they travel to."

Since the SERVE program arrived to Muskegon, the community has seen a gradual impact. Projects that were completed at the elementary school were ones the school wouldn't have been able to do unless volunteers put in the time, Kingshott said.

Todd Wolters, who hails from Trenton, Ontario, was one of those volunteers who could be seen painting the fence that stretched around the backside of the school.

Fresh off high school graduation, Wolters decided to take part in SERVE for his fourth consecutive year.

"It's a different experience that you can't find anywhere else," Wolters said. "The first day we were painting the exterior trim of a lady's house. The second day we were at a nursing home, where my leader and I washed windows."

Through his church back home, Wolters first found out about SERVE and volunteered his services immediately.

Last year he went to Hamilton, Ontario. The two years before that, Wolters spent time in other portions of West Michigan, which included Grand Rapids and Holland.

Dee Scott, who served as one of two job coordinators that were available through Calvin CRC, got involved with SERVE ever since it first began coming to Muskegon.

On Wednesday, Scott was stationed at another location called Family Promise, a day center for homeless families. While there, Scott and two teams of volunteers painted several rooms.

"Every year, several of us get together and talk to people in the community and find out where the work is needed," Scott said. "Sometimes we do individual homes, but we've been working at other places like Family Promise."

While families stay there during the day, the parents are taught how to find a new home and create resumes, Scott said.

In the evenings, the families go to churches where they are given meals and overnight lodging, Scott said. The experience has been a positive experience so far for both coordinators and volunteers.

However, working at local buildings and private residences isn't the only thing SERVE has done this year.

"We try to work in places that do not have the funds or the capacity to do it themselves," Scott said. "Sometimes we even help the city of Muskegon on projects that they no longer have funds to do. We've helped clean up neighborhoods, we've raked their parks."